NASCAR star Corey LaJoie talks 'wild experience' of racing at Daytona 500

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NASCAR driver Corey LaJoie is only a few days away from starting his engine at the Daytona 500 for the eighth time in his Cup Series career.

Daytona International Speedway is a legendary racetrack. The banking on the turns is 31 degrees and 18 degrees on the tri-oval. Fans watching the race see the cars zoom by as if it is natural to be racing at speeds of 200 mph.

LaJoie, who will be partnering with Chili’s for the “Catch a ‘Rita” campaign in the race, explained to Fox News Digital just how intense the situation is on the track.

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Corey LaJoie, driver of the #7 NEGU Chevrolet, walks onstage during driver introductions prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Aug. 26, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

“It’s hard to explain. It’s like a little bit of an out-of-body experience mixed with like a conscious experience of like, ‘Oh boy, this going to get big, and it’s going to hurt real bad if I crash.’ But meanwhile, you’re trying to just play chess with a 3,600-pound racecar going 200 mph,” he said.

“You can see cars bouncing around. You can see guys pushing, and you can see big aggressive blocks and all it takes is one little puff of smoke from one mistake and you can be piled up.”

LaJoie said as the 200-lap race goes on, the racing gets more intense and the pressure in the car changes.

“The intensity knob ramps up slowly throughout the course of the day and bumps aren’t quite as big and runs aren’t as quite as fast,” LaJoie told Fox News Digital. “As you get closer, the bumps become harder. The room becomes very minimal, if any. There’s no more cutting breaks, and you just feel that intensity knob ramp up toward the end and cars are moving around, and you’re getting smashes and people know it’s time to go.

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Corey LaJoie, driver of the #7 Gainbridge Chevrolet, prepares to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series 4EVER 400 Presented by Mobil 1 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on October 21, 2023 in Homestead, Florida. (James Gilbert/Getty Images)

“You wanna make sure you’re on the front side of that because that’s when stuff sort of gets torn up, but it’s also when they decide who that winner is. It gets your heart going, your senses are heightened. The whole pressure in the car changes when it ramps up – kind of like when they shut the door of an airplane and you’re about to take off. It sucks that pressure and it pressurizes. The cars are going so fast, so close together, that the pressure inside the car is almost like an airplane.

“Meanwhile, you’re going 200 mph alongside 39 other crazy fellas that are also going 200 mph. It’s a pretty wild experience.”

LaJoie’s best finish came in 2020, when he finished in eighth place. Last year, he finished in 16th.